


Something Wicked

by ForkOfTruth



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, 亜人 - 三浦追儺 & 桜井画門 | Ajin - Miura Tsuina & Sakurai Gamon
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood and Violence, But not really cause, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, Gen, Horcruxes, Mild Gore, Minor Character Death, Poor Cedric, The Author Regrets Nothing, Voldemort Dies, very mild
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-24
Updated: 2017-12-08
Packaged: 2019-02-06 09:17:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12814410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ForkOfTruth/pseuds/ForkOfTruth
Summary: In the graveyard, two Peverell's face each other. They do not know how closely they are tied, nor do they know of their true heritage. Only Death knows what was awakened in the Boy Who Lived that Halloween night.And then Harry dies. Now Death isn't the only thing Voldemort fears.





	1. Death is the next adventure

**Author's Note:**

> The spoken words in italics are Parseltongue. 
> 
> Disclaimer: though I love Harry Potter and the works associated with the series I, sadly, do not own this or Ajin. Both of these belong to their respective creators.

The graveyard was dark and ominous, shadows everywhere making it hard to see what else could be lurking amongst the headstones. Though there was a manor not far from the graveyard, it held no lights or other sign of life to show it was inhabited. It looked just as grim as the rest of the graveyard, and Harry couldn’t deny there was something terribly familiar about the place. When the vertigo of portkey travel had passed, Harry sat up with a frown, puzzled as to why they were here of all places when they’d just been at Hogwarts. But, more than anything, he couldn't fathom why he was filled with such a feeling of dread and foreboding. It wasn't a logical feeling, but, instead, an instinctual one that had his fingers shaking and the need to run burning in his mind and legs. Instead, he stayed sitting and turned as much as he could to his companion.

"Cedric?"

The answer was a soft groan as the young man sat up, wiping the dirt from his eyes and forehead. When he realized where the two had ended up, he frowned too. "Where... Where are we?"

Harry shook his head, pushing his glasses up his nose. They were a bit crooked from the portkey's rough landing and dirty from his tumble through the maze, but having them on and being able to see _somewhat_ was calming. “I don't know, but I have a really bad feeling. We should go...”

Despite the unease of the situation, Harry was a bit relieved to have someone older with him for once. It was odd, though. He was used to being alone during his adventures or with people around his age, everyone older than him had always found a way to let him down. With Cedric, though, it was almost nice to let him take charge. He held out a hand to the other, smile small as he looked at him.

"Help me up?"

Cedric smiled in return and took the offered hand, pulling Harry up and quickly wrapping an arm around the unstable boy. Harry tried not to wince when he put pressure on his bad leg, but it was a close thing. It had been a dull throb until then, easily ignored until he was stood upright. Now the pain was back, deeper than he realized and harder to disregard. Cedric patted his hip where his arm was curled around his waist in what the older boy hoped was a comforting gesture. "Come on, let's go home."

The words – and the thought of Hogwarts – made his smile a bit bigger despite the situation. Of all the places he’d been to, the castle was the only one that always made him feel the most welcome. He wasn’t too sure, but he thought that’s what made a home, and he couldn’t wait to get back to his. They started making their way slowly toward the Cup, Harry gripping the hand on his shoulder as he hobbled along. They were mere yards from the cup when a sharp, white-hot spike of pain pierced his skull making him cry out. He lost his grip on Cedric's hand and suddenly he was falling, only the arm around his waist keeping him from hitting the ground.

Cedric's voice was loud and concerned in his ear. "H-harry? Harry, what's wrong!?"

Harry blinked the tears from his eyes, the pain a haze that made it hard for him to respond. He wiped the tears away with his hand only to realize it was blood, dripping from his scar and slipping into his eyes. The dread that filled him was like a lead weight in his stomach, taking his breath away as quickly as the pain. Slowly, he turned to look behind them and was horrified to see a squat – and easily recognizable – man holding a tiny bundle swathed in black. Harry's lips were suddenly dry, and he found himself with nothing to say.

The voice that spoke wasn't Cedric's or Wormtails but instead came from the bundle. It was high pitched and more of a hiss than a normal voice, but both Cedric and Harry understood the words well enough.

"Kill the spare."

Wormtail raised his wand, unfamiliar and dangerous, and Harry did the only thing he could think of. He took as deep a breath as he could, gathering his strength, and acted.

"Avada Kedavra!"

Green light, a poisonous color that briefly bathed the dark graveyard in sickly light, shot from the end of the wand. As soon as the wand began to glow Harry had his hands-on Cedric's side, pushing him hard away. The teenager stumbled, looking shocked, but before Harry could fall with him, the green light struck him. And he fell.

Silence followed, the only living people in the graveyard struck numb with shock or horror. It was a true quiet, not even the nature of the graveyard stirring to make a sound. Cedric, still laying with his arms braced on the ground, could only stare at Harry's body (the thought that this was now just a body made him choke) in white-faced horror. Wormtail whimpered as the weight of what he’d just done hit him, body trembling with his fear. Voldemort, the tiny and seemingly insignificant bundle in Wormtail's arms, was seething. That was his kill, and this blithering fool had stolen it from him. His magic reacted, rising like a wrathful tide to constrict and kill at his bidding. But, in this form, the magic could only rise. Using that magic was another matter entirely. He was opening his mouth, ready to enact vengeance on the pitiful creature who held him, when he noticed the spare's breathing change. Curious, Voldemort turned his head as best he could, and he let out a wheezy little breath in shock.

Tiny black specks floated from the boy, the most pouring out his mouth and from his wounded leg, coalescing above him. The black shape began to take form, becoming vaguely humanoid even as it hunched over Harry's body like a dog would. When the black specks solidified, the creature appeared nothing like any animal Cedric, or the Dark Lord for that matter, had ever seen. It appeared more like a human than an animal, but too tall and far too thin to be human or any kind of known magical creature. Its body was like a skeleton enveloped in black bandages, almost mummy-like, with a looser set of bandages, these ones like a cloak, wrapped around its frame and floated behind it in a nonexistent wind. It looked every bit how Cedric had pictured death and he found himself struck still by his fear. Killing curse green glowed from where eyes should be as the creature glanced at Cedric, turning its head completely to the left to stare at him. The face had no real definition, just a roughly oval shape that ended in more or a point where a human’s chin would be. No nose or visible lips, just two green glowing points that kept Cedric locked in place. It only stared for a second, but it felt like an eternity to the teenager. The glow seemed to peer into his very soul, leaving his body cold inside. Quite suddenly, the creature shrieked, the sound alien and edged with a hiss, and lunged itself at Wormtail and his bundle. Voldemort was screaming, voice shrill and dropping into parseltongue with every other word.

"Fool! Kill _it, stop_ it!"

Wormtail, hands shaking and voice a quivering mess, shot out as many spells as he could. Not all connected, and those that did only made the creature grunt and shake its head. In the end, Wormtail only got a few spells out before the creature had struck with a hand that was mostly claws at Wormtail's arm, severing it completely. Wormtail screamed in pain, blood immediately flowing from the wound. Both arm and bundle fell to the ground and Voldemort shot out curses of his own, though they did little good.

“ _Nagini! Nagini, come to your master!"_

A seam appeared in the lower half of the black creature’s face as it bared its teeth at Wormtail. There was the unmistakable scent of defecation before the trembling man collapsed in a dead faint, blood flowing fast from the severed arm. Cedric, who hadn't known the creature had a mouth, would have been horrified to see the Glasgow grin the creature flashed at Wormtail. Instead of normal teeth, or just pointed teeth, the creature had needle-like teeth that were far too big and far too numerous for the mouth it filled.

Nagini appeared with a hiss, the snake massive compared to the body and bundle she shot between to curl protectively around her master. But, compared to the black being before them, the snake seemed so small.

She hissed loudly. _“Go. Leave my master or I will bite! My poison will hurt and kill, so leave!”_ Even as her instincts told her to flee, the bond to her master kept her coiled around him ready to protect.

There wasn’t much Cedric could see from where he hovered protectively over Harry's body, but what he could see left him paralyzed, his mind frozen in shock. His only thought was that he had to live and return Harry's body. He couldn’t leave Harry here with a creature that could destroy him so easily, not when there were so many who would mourn him. Not when Harry had a family who would demand a body, and proof, that their loved one had perished.

The black creature warbled, and it took Cedric a moment to realize it was laughing. What followed was a hissing, odd sound, more like an echo than a true sound. Cedric didn't know what was going on, but the snake seemed to recoil slightly and the bundle she’d wrapped around had long gone silent. The sound was oddly familiar and it took Cedric a moment to realize why: the creature was speaking Parseltongue.

_“You dare hurt me and mine. Threaten to kill me and mine. Twice you have succeeded, many more times you have tried. I will take me and mine’s penance now.”_

And with that, the creature struck, cutting the head off the snake as the snake lunged to bite. The snake barely had time to sink her fangs into the creature before head and body fell to the ground, writhing as the last bits of life and magic flowed out of her body. The creature said nothing as it next crushed the bundle beneath its foot and proceeded to stomp and pounce it into the ground, more cat-like now than the personification of death. One could almost imagine it's cloak-like bandages as a tail.

When the bundle was nothing more than a pancake, flattened into bloody, squishy cloth, the creature turned to Cedric and grinned. Cedric felt a little faint at the sight, but held his ground over Harry and watched as the creature's body slowly turned to black specks and disappeared. The graveyard was silent once more, though this time the silence was more natural. A light wind danced between the headstones, blowing leaves and debris over the gory scene not far away. Cedric felt sick, tears dotting his eyes as he covered his mouth, the reality of the situation finally catching up with him. Harry was dead and he had witnessed a murder. **Harry was dead-.**

Harry's eyes opened wide, suddenly taking in a sharp breath before he was breathing normally as if he’d just been holding his breath instead of dead. His eyes seemed to glow killing curse green before fading back to their normal hue (though Cedric chalks it up to a trick of the light and shock, later he isn’t quite so sure about his reasoning). For a moment, Harry just stared up at Cedric without seeing him or anything else, until his eyes widened. The young teen sat up too fast in his haste and shock, almost knocking his head against the older teens. Cedric probably wouldn’t have felt the pain, his mouth open wide and tears still hanging in his eyes ready to fall.

"Cedric! A-are you okay? What happened? N-never mind, we have to go!" Harry was already tugging on his hand, trying to get Cedric to stand, not even noticing his leg was healed until both were standing, and Harry noticed that Cedric was no longer panicking. Instead, he just looked shocked, pale and grey, but unharmed. Harry frowned, confused as to why, until he turned to see the bloody scene behind him. Cedric’s eyes widened, momentarily forgetting what had just happened (Harry had died-) as he realized a fourteen-year-old was going to see this, and he quickly turned Harry around. "I... I-I’ll explain later. C-come on. We... We should go. Now."

"But... Cedric, what...?"

Cedric's expression was tired, almost pleading. "Please, Harry. Let's go home."

Harry peered into his eyes, staying silent, and nodded slowly. "Alright... Are you okay, though?"

Cedric wanted to laugh at that because no, he was not okay. He had just witnessed the most horrific thing he'd ever seen, which included Harry's death, and a part of him had almost thought that Harry had done it. But, no, Harry couldn't have when he stood before him so willing to protect and looking almost naive. He took a deep breath and forced a smile. "I'll be fine as soon as we get back. Now... Come on, we should get going." And he quickly led Harry to the portkey, still holding his hand as the two of them took hold of the cup at the same time. Cedric never once noticed how Harry seemed a bit different, his shadow just a bit darker, and his eyes just a bit brighter

 


	2. The Calm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and Cedric have survived, and won, the Triwizard Tournament! Everyone is celebrating but Harry needs answers that only Cedric can give him. Which is really hard to fix when he can't seem to find the time to ask Cedric about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess what this means guys! This story is getting continued! I'm so sorry for the wait, though. I've had this chapter written for almost a week now, but before I could get to editing my house got hit by the flu. Which is a bit ironic considering all of us got our Flu shot. Thankfully I'm better now - and everyone else is getting better - and chapter 2 is all ready to go with chapter 3 started! Hopefully you guys enjoy and, again, sorry for the wait.

No matter how hard Harry tried, he couldn't seem to get a moment alone with Cedric. From the moment they arrived back at Hogwarts, relatively safe, Dumbledore had whisked them away to his office. From there, the blank spot in Harry's memory was filled in, but it didn't help at all. Even Dumbledore was being more vague than usual, the twinkle in his eye somehow different than normal.

"You're saying a black creature appeared to protect you and... Killed Voldemort?"

Cedric, for his part, managed not to flinch at the name. His eyes did widen, though. "Yes, sir. It was... A bit graphic. And He... V-Voldemort looked... Well, he almost looked like this rather disturbing baby."

Dumbledore nodded. "Would you be so inclined to share the memory, Cedric?"

Cedric looked a little green at that but reluctantly nodded. "Yeah..."

The memory was given, Cedric looking, even more, green, and then he was gone. Whisked away by his father, girlfriend, and friends while Harry was herded away by his own friends. Though Dumbledore seemed satisfied with the answers he got, if not somewhat pensive, Harry was confused. Cedric’s tale had managed to fill in the blank spaces of Harry’s memory, but left him with an odd twisting in his stomach. The story about the black thing appearing sounded both familiar and completely new, but he didn’t know why. All he knew was that he either needed to see that memory or question Cedric himself.

It just didn’t seem to be in the cards for him.

Everywhere he turned, there were people celebrating the dual Hogwarts win. Hell, Harry even caught a few Slytherin’s celebrating, but that was only on the rare occasion when Harry found a way to slip away unnoticed. That was another thing. After four years of getting used to his so-called fame, he thought he’d grown used to being in the spotlight by now. But, nope, he wasn’t, and this almost seemed worse. Everywhere he went there was always someone there, and some for the stupidest reasons! Most wanted his autograph, which was okay (and he hated that he was okay with that. It made him think of Lockhart and that was just wrong). Then there were the brave ones who would just walk up and congratulate him, which was also okay. What was not okay was the number of people who just followed him. They weren’t even trying to hide it, he just constantly had these tag-a-longs ranging from first to seventh years. And then there were the weird ones. They were the ones who started whispering things like “I got some of his hair!” or “I was close enough to smell him.” when Harry or his friends were just out of earshot. It was almost frightening. He started staying closer to his friends after he heard that.

It wasn’t until the last day of school that Harry finally caught a moment alone with Cedric. It had been by pure coincidence and Harry was thanking his luck for **actually** working for once. Harry had taken to wearing his invisibility cloak after the third consecutive day of near constant fan stalking. It normally wouldn’t have bothered him, but Harry liked having moments to himself or with just his friends and he hadn’t been able to have much of that. And, though he loved his friends, this was getting to be almost too much attention for him. Which was saying something considering the amount of attention he normally got. Harry had just been wandering when he saw Cedric heading into the prefect’s bath. It was perfect. He was completely alone, carrying only his shower bag, and Harry realized this was his chance.

Harry briefly wondered how Cedric managed to sneak around without an invisibility cloak before he was running to the door. He slammed against the wood, pushing it open right as Cedric went to close it and stepped in, his shoulder a dull throb that was easily ignored. Cedric’s eyes were wide as an owl's, only closing the door after Harry had taken off his cloak and flashed him a sheepish smile.

“Sorry for scaring you, I just… I really need to talk to you about what happened, Cedric.” Harry made sure that he saw the full effect of his smile as he said it.

Harry saw the exact moment the older teen caved. His face, which had been a little green at the mention of the other night, suddenly looked tired and his posture just deflated. It looked like he’d been carrying this immense burden and had been hiding it from everyone else. Harry couldn’t help but be concerned. He’d heard the story, and, though it had sounded brutal, he was used to horror by now. Granted, Harry would probably feel differently about it if he’d seen it happen, but Cedric obviously had never experienced anything quite so brutal. Who knows if he was having nightmares or if watching it happen had hurt him in a way that wasn’t physical. It was almost enough to make Harry feel bad, to almost want to stop his line of questioning before it began.

But it was only almost. Harry still needed these answers, even if a part of him felt bad for making the other relive the night.

Cedric waved his hand for him to follow and he flopped onto one of the rooms benches. The mermaid had disappeared from her window and the bathroom was almost eerily quiet without her singing. Harry, not sure what else to do, rolled his cloak into a ball and held it in his lap as he sat facing the older teen.

Cedric was rubbing his neck, not looking at him and expression a grimace – as if he’d stepped in something foul – as he asked. “What would you like to know?”

Harry, ever the Gryffindor, blurted out his first question. “Tell me again. What do you remember of that night?”

Cedric was practically chomping at his lip he was chewing it so hard. It made Harry just want to do something to comfort the older teen, but comfort had never been his strong suit. So, he sat and waited, his worry twisting at his gut and making him squirm.

Finally, Cedric relinquished the abused lip (which pleased Harry) and started talking slowly. “You… I don’t know what you remember.” Harry decided not to add that he remembered very little from after Wormtail and Voldemort showed up, but he kept that to himself. “But once that man and… V-Voldemort showed up, the man cast… I mean, he cast what I thought was the killing curse at me and you took the hit. I thought you’d died and then there was this thing. I’m not sure how else to describe it, it just sort of looked like a black bandaged mummy. It appeared directly over your body and then it was attacking the man and Voldemort. At one point I think it spoke Parseltongue, but after it finished with them it just… Disappeared. Then you woke up and that’s it.”

Harry felt odd during the story. There was a horrible recognition about hearing it again like he should know what Cedric was talking about, but something was keeping him from knowing. He hugged his invisibility cloak a little tighter to himself.

When he finally spoke, his voice sounded small. “Where did it come from?”

Cedric choked – Harry didn’t know if it was on air or saliva, but the older teen was suddenly coughing. (He remembered the black specks that formed the ghost coming from Harry and his earlier thought that ‘It came from you-.’) Harry looked at him with concern and Cedric held up a hand as he caught his breath. “I… I really don’t know where it came from, but it wanted to protect you. I think that much was obvious.”

Harry wasn’t sure how he knew this, but Cedric was lying. He found himself sighing as he nodded, unbundling the cloak so he could wrap it back around his shoulders. He knew that he wouldn’t be getting any more information out of Cedric today.

“Thanks for answering my questions. I should probably let you get back to your bath.”

Cedric rubbed the back of his neck. Harry was beginning to suspect it was a nervous tick. “I’m not too sure why you wanted to know, but… If I can help, let me know?”

Harry found himself smiling at the other. “Sure, Cedric. If I don’t see you before the train, uh… I hope you have a good summer?”

Cedric’s smile came unbidden as he nodded. “You too, Harry.”

Harry fought a grimace at that – ending up looking a little constipated – and hurried out the room with one last wave. Back in the hall and his cloak on, he just stood there a moment before he started roaming again. Muscle memory took him through the halls of the school and practice had him sidestepping other students with ease even as his mind wandered. What he knew so far was that the black creature looked like a mummy and had appeared immediately after Harry had passed out (died?) and disappeared right before he woke up. It was almost obvious that the creature was connected to him, but how?

The boy who lived was so lost in his musings that he didn’t notice the hand that grabbed his cloak and pulled him into an alcove. There was a second of shocked delay before he was pulling his wand from his pocket, a hex on his lips, only to stop when he saw radish earrings.

He had to take a deep breath to calm himself and made sure no one was watching as he hissed. “Luna. Please don’t do that, you nearly gave me a heart attack!”

The third-year Ravenclaw just smiled at him. Her hair was a kinky mess, with small leaves and sticks stuck in various places. Dirt smudged her cheek and large, pink glasses Harry couldn’t quite understand were pushed up against her eyes. Her clothes were a bit rumpled and Harry was finding himself worrying about someone else for the second time in the last ten minutes.

‘Oh, Merlin. I really hope she hasn’t been in a fight. Should I take her to Madame Pomfrey to be safe…?’

And then she tapped him on his nose with a tiny, dirt covered finger. Harry might have squeaked in response because how did she know where his nose was if he was invisible? As if she knew what he was thinking, her smile only grew.

“You worry too much about others, Harry… Your head is liable to explode.”

He found himself blinking. “Why explode?”

“It’s full of too many nargles. They don’t normally explode, but getting too many inside your head usually leads to something bad happening. Explosion seemed like the most likely scenario.”

She said it in such a dreamy voice that Harry felt inclined to believe her, even if it didn’t seem likely.

“Okay… Um. Is there a way I could… Get rid of them?”

Luna’s smile was blinding as she brought her hands together. “Your shadow can help!”

“My what now?” Harry was definitely confused now.

The third-year nodded as if that’s what she was expecting – which isn’t all that surprising. Harry didn’t really know a lot about what Luna normally talked about, but he liked to at least try and understand. He just really needed an explanation for why his shadow of all things would help him get rid of nargles.

“Your shadow. Very, very few people know this, and most who find out get confused and scared, but some are born with two shadows. One stays on the ground and disappears when there’s no light. The other can appear whenever solid. A guardian, if you will.”

Harry’s insides were twisting uncomfortably again the longer Luna spoke. “Luna… Have you seen…?”

She shook her head. “I’ve seen your second shadows shadow, but never the actual thing. It’s always there, though.” She looked at him a moment before pulling her bag up and rummaging around in it. There was the distinct sound of glass hitting metal, cloth ruffling, pages crinkling, and then Luna was pulling out a book. It looked old, the binding cracked and the pages yellow with age. She held it out to him with a proud smile. “It’s a silly book. The author who wrote it couldn’t see nargles, but he could see a person’s second shadow. The pages told me more than the words, but I think you’ll get more use from it by reading it. Unless you can hear the pages too?” She looked so curious at that, eyes wide behind the pink lenses.

Harry felt bad when he answered. “Uh… No. I don’t think I ever have.”

She didn’t seem too surprised by his answer and shrugged with one shoulder. “A pity. Pages can be so talkative.” Luna smiled again, eyes squinting. “Owl me, Harry, once you’ve read the book. I can answer your questions. Hopefully you’ll meet your second shadow?”

And then she was gone, leaving Harry alone in the alcove. He looked at the book, held carefully in his hands, and flipped it open to the first page. Inside, the yellowing wasn’t near as bad as on the edge of the pages, but it was spotted, and some pages were beginning to fall out. _Magic is far more complicated, and far vaster, than we give it credit for. Many discourage the idea of something just because it seems too extraordinary while others have been able to create the impossible through magic. It’s for this reason why I wrote this book. There are too many things that have yet to be discovered, simply because they have long since faded throughout history or we have yet to discover the magic that will lead us to them. One such creature is one that hides in plain sight and its origins can be traced back to the tale of the three brothers. A fairy tale, some say, but can it truly be called such when creatures resembling fairies exist? The creature goes by many names: shadow, ghost, or black demon. Very little is known about the creature except that it exists alongside a human…_ Harry, heart racing, quickly closed the book and drew it close. Was this what he was searching for? Breathing deeply to calm his heart, the Boy-Who-Lived ran back to Gryffindor Tower, stuck between the need to know more and the unrelenting twist of his stomach the more he thought about it.

He didn’t notice the shadow that followed him through the halls, crawling silently along the wall or ceiling and never once letting him out of its sight. The shadow was just that – a shadow, intangible, visible to very few while others caught a brief chill as it passed. One pair of eyes peered at it through pink lenses and twisted the radishes in her earrings. Another pair watched with stormy grey eyes, hands clenched around a green tie. The other watched from half-moon spectacles, the twinkle gone, replaced by something sharper.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, there it is: chapter 2 of Something Wicked. I hope you all enjoyed it and it was worth the wait! Feedback is appreciated and encouragement helps fuel my creative fire! Let me know what you think of where this is going and if there's anything you'd like to see, let me know. If you guys still haven't seen Ajin then I really recommend giving it a go. You won't be confused if you haven't seen it, but the visual aid might give you some idea of what I'm talking about.
> 
> As a side note, tags will be added as the story progresses. So buckle up for what will hopefully be a fun ride :)


End file.
